


Red and Blue Hearts

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Pepperony Week 2K17 [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Arc Reactor, F/M, Fluff, Pepperony Week, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Pepper Potts, going off my headcanon that the arc powers tony's heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 01:11:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: After the Wormhole Incident, Pepper reflects on Tony and the past few daysFor day one of Pepperony week





	Red and Blue Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I love these two y'all. I'm still screaming about the end of spider man.  
> This si for day one of Pepperony week; prompt touch. (It kinda got away from the beginning idea of touching the arc reactor if you can't tell)  
> This kinda references my last pepperony thing but it's not really required to read it but I'm putting it in that series anyway as some sort of motivation for me to fix what I have written and finish what I don't.

Pepper rolled over in bed, unable to sleep. Images of Tony falling out of the sky blew through her mind, over and over and over. The media thought that Tony had flown out of that wormhole, but she knew better. The arc reactor hadn’t been glowing when Tony exited the wormhole. She was never going to be able to get that image out of her mind, his lifeless suit hurtling towards the earth, no power to thrusters or his heart. 

Pepper rolled over again to face Tony. He was sleeping peacefully, exhausted from the events of the past few days. She watched his breathing, slow and steady with sleep. His face was relaxed, bathed in the slight blue glow from the arc reactor. She wrapped a hand around his wrist lightly, feeling his pulse. It was slow and constant, perfectly regulated by the arc reactor and various sensors he had managed to replace since the cave. Pepper sighed and scooted closer to him, burying her head in his shoulder. He had come so  _ close _ to dying several times over the past three days, and she only now had time to process it all. She felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of losing him. Those three months he had spent in Afghanistan had almost killed them both. What would she do without him? Pressing her face into his shoulder, she shifted so she could sling an arm over his chest. She could feel the rise and fall of his breath, reassuring her that he was still there, still alive. If she lost him, she didn’t know what she’d do. 

She remembered that time, directly after he had announced to the world that he was Iron Man, that she had made him promise to take care of himself. Miraculously, he had agreed. His one caveat was that he was going to take care of her too. He had probably thought that going through that wormhole with the nuke was going to save her from death by aliens, which to him was more important than his own life. Pepper supposed that she understood that. She would do anything to keep him safe. But with him as Iron Man, there wasn’t anything she could really do. She wasn’t superhuman, she didn’t have any special powers. She didn’t have the smarts and capability to build herself something like his suit. The most she could do was be there with ice and a band-aid when he came home.

But she had failed even that this time. She had been in DC when the wormhole opened. She hadn’t been there to help when the arc reactor had failed, hadn’t been there to tell the rest of the Avengers what was wrong, hadn’t been there to tell him to actually go to medical. All she wanted to do was protect him from himself, but she couldn’t do that when he was flying across the world, protecting people from supervillains and rogue missiles. 

Sometimes Pepper thought it would be better if he wasn’t Iron Man. Tony was too self-destructive to be trusted with his own and countless others lives. He would take the reckless approach if he thought it would save more people. He would do literally anything to protect people, especially if she happened to be one of them. He didn’t value his own life at all. Sometimes she thought that maybe she could convince him to stop. Sometimes she thought that, if he  _ wasn’t _ Iron Man, he could see the value of his life again. He wasn’t just Iron Man, he was Tony Stark. Tony Stark mattered just as much as Iron Man did. Pepper wasn’t sure how to get him to see that. 

Pepper traced the outline of the arc creator through his shirt. The marvel of engineering represented all he was. It powered his suit, but it also powered his heart. Iron Man powered Tony Stark just as much as Tony Stark moved Iron Man. They were one and the same. Tony didn’t suddenly become Iron Man when he stepped into the suit. He was Iron Man with the suit and without it. There were other ways he could help the world without ever using his suit. Iron Man was part of him just like the arc reactor.

The level of trust and respect that he showed her that she was the only one he let touch the arc reactor was amazing. Ever since the incident with Stane, even since Afghanistan, he was protective of it. Even Rhodey rarely got to see it. Yet, here she was, lightly tracing the intricate design on its covering while he was sleeping. It was a comfort, the blue light. It meant his heart was still beating; he was still alive as long as the light shone.

Pepper had asked Tony once why he didn’t get a professional to remove the rest of the shrapnel and give him a pacemaker that didn’t require the arc reactor. He’d said that he didn’t think he could sleep without the light anymore, or the weight in his chest. It had become a comfort, something he held onto to reassure himself he was safe. Pepper didn’t think she could sleep without the light either, now. 

She breathed deeply and finally closed her eyes. Tony was safe and on his way to health. The arc reactor was fresh and in no danger of failing. She settled into his warmth and slowly, finally, drifted off to sleep.


End file.
